1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to networked computer systems, and more particularly to a system and method for providing a synchronized display of information on a plurality of computer workstations over a computer network.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In recent years, the proliferation of computers and advances in computing technology have had a profound impact on the way in which companies communicate, maintain records, and conduct business generally. Computer networks have been utilized to such great extent that email is rapidly replacing the telephone for many communications. Although increased sophistication in computer systems has enhanced the way that many companies conduct business, further improvements and efficiencies are desired.
As one illustration, the advance in computer technology has facilitated the ability to perform computer-based training. Traditionally, when a company, an educational facility, or other enterprise give presentations, seminars, classes, or other training, the individuals, employees, etc. desiring to attend traveled to a particular site in order to physically attend the presentation. This, however, imposed substantial costs (in both time and money), if the individual attendees were otherwise geographically dispersed. Video conferencing (as often used by businesses) is one means of facilitating such a presentation, without incurring the costs typically associated with collecting the attendees at a single location. This approach, however, requires that the various satellite broadcast locations be equipped with video conferencing equipment, which imposes a separate expense of its own.
In computer-based training, computers and computer networks are used as the medium for communication. An instructor at a certain location may control the presentation of information slides to a plurality of satellite locations. In this regard, the term "information slide" has a relatively broad connotation, referring generally to a single screen of one or more objects (which objects may be graphic, video, sound, etc.) Information slides could be, for example, the relatively simple slides of a Microsoft Power-Point presentation, a Lotus Freelance presentation, or the more complex multimedia integration of RadMedia PowerMedia. As is known, these tools may include features like: graphics tools, text management, import and export various external graphics formats, sequencing capabilities allowing unattended viewing, and transitions between slides for better visual impact.
As has been known in the past, slides prepared for a lecture are often primarily text with small amounts of clip art added. They are typically logically and sequentially ordered, and are played back as paced by an instructor. Often, the information slides do not contain the full details of all the lecture information, but rather are "filled in" by instructor narrative. In this regard, technology, like simultaneous voice/data modems, allows for the simultaneous transmission and reception of voice and data information.
Presentations in this environment typically occur in one of several ways. In one way, the playback (e.g., on a computer workstation or other device) of the various information slides may be timed in accordance with a predefined time per slide. The entire presentation may be sent beforehand to the individual remote locations, and all locations are prompted to coordinate the initiation of the presentation at the same time. Thereafter, the presentation (slide to slide) may be presented at all locations in a synchronous fashion. The instructor, viewing the same timed presentation, then speaks to each information slide as it is presented. This approach, however, has several disadvantages. First, it is extremely inflexible insofar as the instructor must stay paced with the predetermined timing of the information slides. Furthermore, it requires some level of cooperation among persons at the various remote locations to instruct the workstations to initiate the presentations at the same time. Accordingly, this in effect is simply a simultaneous execution of a common presentation, and no synchronization is actually performed.
Such a system may be modified to provide a loosely-coupled synchronization by having a person designated at each remote location to control the respective workstations to switch to a certain informational slide. For example, suppose a presentation includes a series of information slides numbered 1 through fifty. All fifty slides are pre-distributed to all the remote locations. Then, as the instructor gives the presentation, the instructor will verbally instruct the designees at each satellite location which slide to select and when. One problem with this setup is that it requires an active participant at each and every location to "run" the workstation. It also requires a significant amount of "out of band" communication by the instructor, to instruct the designees on slide presentation (e.g., "now proceed to slide number 24").
Another method known in the prior art relates to the presentation of instructor-directed information slides to a plurality of workstations, using specialized (or even proprietary) software over a local area network (LAN). Such a platform may provide a more robust presentation in that a network server may coordinate and synchronize the display of the presentation slides to the various "satellite" or viewing workstations. Such a presentation need not be configured to display at any predetermined time intervals. Instead, the instructor may control the display of individual information slides, which network server then may controllably route to the various viewing satellite workstations. When using specialized or proprietary software, however, the broadcast of such a presentation is necessarily limited to a select group of workstations, such as a corporate LAN or similar homogeneous, tightly controlled environment.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a system that offers improved control and flexibility in the presentation of computer-based instructional sessions among widely distributed audiences using diverse computer platforms.